Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Evolution - Not just a theory, but proven by clear evidence

I am amazed by evolution and by Charles Darwin.

I used to not believe that the chicken and the T-rex share a common ancestor. I was like "WHAT THE HELL. How can it be? Both are SO different!" But now, it all makes sense because I took the effort to investigate the evidence available.

Evolution is not just a theory. Through evidence and research we can conclude that evolution is viable. Just like how we can reproduce the water cycle in labs and need not fly up to the skies to know that clouds are made up of water, we also need not go back millions of years ago to know that birds indeed did evolve from dinosaurs.

THE FIRST SPECIES OF DINOSAUR TO EVOLVE INTO A BIRD-LIKE CREATURE is the Archaeopteryx.

The fossil remains of Archaeopteryx, found in 1861, is a clear evidence of a bird-like creature that was closely related to the dinosaurs.

Scientists quickly recognized the Archaeopteryx as the potential “missing link” between birds and more primitive reptiles. Like many dinosaurs, if we study the bone structure, Archaeopteryx had a bony tail, teeth, and clawed fingers, and a hyperextendable claw on each foot.

Archaeopteryx, an evolutionary missing link between birds and dinosaurs

With so many similarities between the Archaeopteryx and dinosaurs, it is safe to conclude that dinosaurs did somehow evolve into bird-like creatures tens of millions years ago. Archaeopteryx is a clear example of the evolution of dinosaurs. It is the missing link, connecting the dinosaurs and modern day birds.Today we do not have to look at Archaeopteryx. If we look at modern day birds, we realise there is a striking resemblance between birds and dinosaurs.

The most obvious physical similarity between the two would be found in the feet. Both dinosaurs and birds have similar feet.

Striking similarity between the T-rex feet and the chicken feet

Birds and dinosaurs have toed pes (foot); but supported by 3 main toes. Both share elongated metatarsals (bones of the feet between the ankle and toes). And many birds have a S-shaped curved neck, just like many dinosaurs.